For the second time in two months, Jordan lawmakers have rejected a draft law that would enact harsher punishment for the practice of 'honor' killings of women.

If the measure had passed, men convicted of killing female relatives in the name of honor would face the same life-imprisonment punishment as for any other killing. Currently, men convicted of the crime face a maximum of one year in prison.

Dozens of Jordanian women are killed every year in what are described as 'honor' crimes. Under the current law, men convicted of killing female relatives in the name of "honor" serve prison sentences of three months to one year.

Rana Husseni, a leading Jordanian journalist who has reported extensively on honor killings, will be one of the symposium speakers on gender-based violence at the Feminist Majority Foundation's Feminist Expo 2000 for Women's Empowerment, March 31 - April 2, 2000 in Baltimore, MD.